Research Guides: Environmental Policy, Planning, and Sustainability Lab: Government Information

Searching for Government Information

When searching for online materials or websites, use the significant words (keywords) of your topic and add "site:.gov" (no quotation marks) to the search. This will limit results to sites on the .gov domain, which will primarily be US federal and state government sites.

For US government publications:

Catalog of US Government Publications
Includes publications distributed through the federal depository library program and more.
NTIS National Technical Reports Library
Search for federally funded bibliographic science and technology research information for free on the Public Access NTRL website. However, fees are charged for full text of some reports. Before paying, search for the identified reports at the agency site, through the USA.gov portal, and general web searching to see if available for free.
TRAIL: Technical ReportsArchive & Image Library
A large collection of U.S. federal technical reports issued prior to 1975

Environmental & Science Sources

Envirofacts
Multisystem (location-based) or topic searches for environmental information.

Science.gov This link opens in a new window
Gateway to information resources at government science agencies including science web sites and databases of technical reports, journal articles, conference proceedings, and other published materials.

Water Quality Data
From the US Geological Survey
US Fish & Wildlife Service
National Wetlands Inventory
From US FIsh & WIldlife Service
US Global Change Research Program

General Government Resources

CRS (Congressional Research Service) Reports, 1965-2018 This link opens in a new window
Public policy briefs issued by the Congressional Research Service to inform members of Congress and their staff on subjects of current interest. Funded by taxpayer money and thus all in the public domain, these reports are nonpartisan and concise.
Note: The information on this site is compiled and made available as a public service by the Government Documents Department at the University of North Texas Libraries. UNT does not make any warranty as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for results obtained from the use of the information. Distribution of the information does not constitute such a warranty. Use of the information is the sole responsibility of the user.

Government Accountability Office (GAO)
An investigatory arm of Congress, the GAO often reports on program evaluation and outcomes.

govinfo This link opens in a new window
Access full text federal government publications from all three branches. Offers a user-friendly, modernized site that provides easy-to-use navigation with multiple ways to search or browse. Replaces FDsys. Dates of coverage: 1793-current

USA.gov
Portal to federal government information and services

NH State Government Resources

NH - Laws & Rules
NH Dept. of Environmental Services
NH Coastal Waters
NH Fish and Game
NH State Government Digital Document Depository
Contains digital materials published by several state agencies or issued by the Office of the Governor. For agency publications not contained in the digital library, please search the NH State Library catalog.
NH State LIbrary Catalog

Laws and Regulations - US Federal

Congressional Publications This link opens in a new window
Includes Congressional reports, hearings (which may contain expert testimony), and legislative histories. Provides detail on the development of federal laws.
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Can search US Code (laws), Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Congressional publications, legal periodicals and law reviews, and more.
Westlaw Campus Research This link opens in a new window
An online legal resource for law-related areas such as criminal justice, social work, business and education. This research tool features legal encyclopedias, court decisions, law reviews and journals, statutes, and more.

e-CFR
The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR) is a currently updated version of the CFR but isn't an official legal edition of the CFR. Various search options are available.

Most government agency websites will have information about relevant laws and regulations. For example:

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - Laws & Regulations